According to the coach, “No World Cup match is easy even against teams that are theoretically weaker.”

Speaking about Morocco’s solid performance against Portugal, Santos said: “They are a team which caused a lot of trouble. We knew how to suffer.”

According to Reuters, the coach also expressed his dissatisfaction about his squad, emphasizing that the team “lost control of the game, we misplaced a lot of passes, we lost confidence.”

“It was inexplicable. If in a match against players like they have, if you don’t have the ball, they will wear you down and you get into trouble,” he added.

The Portuguese coach recognized that his team started the game well but lost some of their magic due to Morocco’s pressure.

Santos said in a pre-World Cup press conference yesterday that his team has “to show Morocco respect because they are an excellent team.”

With a broken heart and teary eyes, Herve Renard said he was proud of the Moroccan footballers who kept their promise and fought for a win against Portugal.

The Atlas Lions’ performance has not gone unnoticed as many football fans expressed pride in their team. Morocco cannot move on to the second phase of the World Cup as it finished its second World Cup without a point. Morocco’s first defeat was to Iran with an own goal on Friday, June 15.